Young And Old, Come one, come all... Options

[dvandorn]

It has occurred to me, over the past few months, as I see some of the most exciting planetary missions being planned for the 2010s, 2020s and even 2030s, that I may not be around to see some of them.

I just turned 50 years old last month. I was 13 going on 14 when we landed on the Moon, and I'm becoming worried that I may not live to see men walk on the Moon again.

I'm getting definitely concerned that some of these really interesting missions, like the Europa orbiter and the potential Neptune and Uranus orbiters, won't return results until I'm in my 60s, 70s, or even 80s. The target date for the new manned Moon landings, in 2017 (IIRC), will be when I'm 61 going on 62.

Now, I may very well still be around until 2025 or 2030 -- but I'm getting pretty certain that no manned Mars mission is going to be attempted by then. In fact, I'm almost thinking it might be a good idea to die *now* and get reincarnated in a hurry, so I would be about the right age to try and wrangle a seat on the first manned Mars expedition (which I'm beginning to think might not happen until 2035 or so, if it ever happens at all).

So, what do y'all think -- those of you who are young enough, what do you think you'll live to see? And those of you who are older, like me -- what do you think you might miss?

-the other Doug

[deglr6328]

I am 25 and I definitely hope to see a manned Mars mission in my lifetime but when it happens I think our intrepid explorers will have a lot more x's z's and J's in their names than one might expect today.

[tedstryk]

I am 26, born in 1979. My first memory of a mission is the Phobos 2 mission, followed by Voyager 2 at Neptune. Here is what I would like to see:

Mars rover landings in areas like Tharsis, Valles Marineris, and other areas of complex topography.

Venusian Rovers and landers, as well as a radar orbiter that can image the surface at MOC-like Resolution

Long Range Lunar Rovers

A dedicated Io mission, perhaps with a lander.

Further exploration of the Galileans

More exploration of Titan with an orbiter and landers.

A Neptune/Triton Mission.

Some KBO missions.

GOMAP

A Ceres lander may be in order, depending on what Dawn finds.

I had no idea that there were areas that did not have regular access to Cherry Coke